


Undercover

by The_Writer_Of_Many_Things



Series: Widojest Week 2019 [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Caleb becomes an honorary detective, F/M, Kissing as a Distraction, Undercover, after they ally with the kryn I guess but otherwise it's just kind of out there, also this is like the longest non-multi-chapter thing I've ever written, but neither one is explicitly Jake or Amy, day 3 of widojest week, once again I just kind of took this one and ran in a direction, some sleuthing happens, this doesn't really go anywhere in the canon, this is loosely based off of the season 2 finale of brooklyn 99
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 22:34:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19755118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Writer_Of_Many_Things/pseuds/The_Writer_Of_Many_Things
Summary: The Mighty Nein are under hire to retrieve an item from a merchant. Jester and Caleb must go undercover to try to extract it, but the nature of the mission forces them to confront how they see each other.





	Undercover

“Caleb, you should stop bouncing your leg. Everything is going to be fine, okay?”

In the history of the Mighty Nein’s plans, this was definitely low on the list for “Most Likely to Succeed”. Caleb would be the first to admit though that he didn’t have a better one, so undercover date night it was.

When they had been assigned the mission of retrieving a special magic item from a merchant, it had seemed fairly simple. After two weeks of reconnaissance however, it quickly became clear that if they wanted to nab the item they were going to have to get personal fast, since the merchant would be leaving the Empire any day now.

Thanks to some clever strategy and a few dramatics, Nott and Yeza had managed to figure out that the merchant was planning on celebrating his last day in the city by dining at the fanciest restaurant this side of the border. Although the Mighty Nein hadn’t been able to pin down the exact drop off point, they knew he hadn’t yet gotten the item to its buyer meaning this would be their last chance to retrieve it without being forced to leave the Empire.

Thus the idea was born that they would sneak into the restaurant, try to get some information from the merchant, and attempt to follow him as he moved to the drop off point. There they could sneak away with the item before the other person arrived.

What it came down to next was the execution. The restaurant was known for catering mostly to couples, so it needed to be two of them, no more and no less. Beau had originally volunteered, but was quickly shot down after the group reminded her that looking human was not a benefit in this case. Shifting appearances would once again be helpful, but that left four contenders. After nearly an hour of arguing, the group voted in favor of Jester and Caleb. The two of them could shapeshift if needed and had the widest range of spells between the two of them on top of that. The others would be waiting in a rented carriage outside the restaurant, allowing Caleb and Nott to communicate if needed.

With all things settled, nothing was left but to do it. Jester hadn’t changed much of her appearance; as a tiefling she was already well off but she did lengthen her horns and change her hair to a long black elegant hairdo, making her a little less conspicuous. Caleb on the other hand needed to change quite a bit. He had modeled his new look after their Kryn friends, turning his skin dark and his eyes and hair a silvery-white. His normal brown clothes became freshly pressed black robes with silver trim to match the dress Jester had chosen. They were as ready as they were going to be for this mission.

“Ya, sorry Jester,” he said. He forced himself to stay still for a moment, letting the soft lamplights of the city streets wash over him as they made their way to the restaurant. “This will go well.”

“It better!” Nott’s muffled voice came from underneath the blanket in the floor of the carriage. Fjord had disguised himself to look appropriate as the carriage driver and Beau, Caduceus, and Yasha and secreted themselves at different points near the restaurant to make sure they could jump out at a moment’s notice, but Nott was on carriage duty. To avoid anyone peeking in and seeing her, she had brought a dark blanket to cover herself with, though she was prepared to use her invisibility if necessary.

“Nott, you worry too much. Caleb is like an honorary detective so we’ll crack the case in no time.” Jester smiled at Caleb, scrunching up her nose in a display of utter optimism.

Caleb felt his heart flutter and had to force himself not to begin his leg jittering again. To tell the truth, he was less nervous about the prospects of the job rather than he was spending the evening virtually alone with Jester. Even if it was all a ploy, they were technically going on a date. And the way her long hair framed her face, the silver of her dress complimented her soft blue freckled skin…. It was all too much for Caleb. He turned his head to stare out the window, to look at anything but Jester. “We are approaching the restaurant.”

“Remember the plan!” came from under the blanket. Jester tapped her foot gently on the floor to indicate she heard Nott as the carriage slowed down.

A half-orc gentleman walked up to the carriage window, dressed in elegant gold and purple robes. “Reservation?” he asked, with a smug smile.

Carefully, Caleb handed over the piece of paper that would give them access to the building. It felt much heavier to him then it actually was; the Mighty Nein had been forced to promise more than one favor in order to get not only a reservation at all but specifically a reservation for the table next to the merchant.

The host gave the document a heavy glance over, taking his time verifying its authenticity. With every passing second Caleb felt his body wanting to tense up more and more; as far as all of the Mighty Nein knew the paper was legitimate but there was always a possibility the party had been double crossed.

Finally the host returned the paper to Caleb’s hand. “We are pleased to welcome you to The Lagoon, Sir Phillip and Lady Fiona.” He opened the door of the carriage and stepped to the side to allow them to exit. “Enjoy your evening and do let us know if there is anything we can do for you during your time with us.”

Caleb stepped down from the carriage and turned around to offer Jester his hand. For a moment as she grasped his arm, Caleb’s mind drifted off to another world, one where this wasn’t a cover scheme, where he was able to take Jester out on a fancy dinner and enjoy her company, listening to her observations of the world and enjoying how she made him laugh. It was a dream world in every possible way but it was for a fleeting moment real to him and he savored the fleeting taste of it on his tongue, tucking away the reverie for another more appropriate time. Wallowing in self-pity and loneliness wasn’t going to help anyone on this mission.

As the host closed the door Caleb saw Nott’s tiny hand peek out from the blanket and tap the floor of the carriage three times to indicate they were proceeding with their indicated part of the plan. He sent a silent prayer out to the Traveler, the Wildmother and the Stormlord to protect the rest of the group as he and Jester walked up the steps to the entrance of the lavish restaurant.

Jester and Caleb had been told that the restaurant was incredibly expensive and therefore decorated to reflect this, but it surpassed both of their wildest expectations. Jester let a small gasp escape her as they stepped through the gilded doors into the enormous room before them. Directly in the center of the room was a tiered marble fountain, pouring water from the jar of an operatic elven figure perched on top. Gorgeous chandeliers made with glass, gold and gems hung from the ceiling, casting colored candle light across the expanse of the room. Tables were spaced evenly enough to allow each party their own comfortable area, and set upon each were crystalline wine glasses, napkins folded into the shape of swans and far too many gilded utensils than one person could reasonably use within a meal. Each step they took as they approached the second host echoed slightly, the heeled shoes clacking against the exquisite marbled floor.

“Good evening Master Phillip, Mistress Fiona.” A tall grey-skinned tiefling with golden eyes and long spiraling horns adorned with jewelry greeted them, her slender fingers beckoning them inside. “Your table is directly this way.”

The hostess brought them into the center of the room and indicated they should sit at a small table with two plush velvet chairs. Caleb pulled out Jester’s chair for her, tapping her lightly on her left side to make sure she had seen the table next to them. Their target for the evening, Augustine himself, was right here in their grasp.

“Are we celebrating anything tonight?” the hostess asked, circling the table to block their view of the merchant. Caleb immediately tensed up-they hadn’t gotten as far as thinking of an excuse for why they had come.

“Ya, we are… um, we are certainly celebrating a thing. It’s….”

Jester reached across the table and put her hand on Caleb’s, stopping his flustered muttering. “We’re engaged!” Jester gave an enormous smile to the hostess. “It was so beautiful, you really should have been there. We were on a hill and there were so many stars and I was in this beautiful red dress with all these bows that matched my hair and-”

“Sounds like a lovely night. I’ll make sure your server knows,” the host said, stepping away from the table. The look on her face barely disguised how uninterested she was in the engagement story.

As she shifted, Caleb could see Augustine and his date. The woman seemed to be whispering to Augustine, with her eyes glancing back and forth from Jester and Caleb to her partner. It made Caleb feel uneasy to have eyes on him like this; even though it was their mission to catch the dealer in the act, knowing he had his eyes on them escalated everything.

“Sorry to spring that on you, Caleb.” Jester began mixing up the utensil arrangement in front of her as she talked. “I know that’s kind of weird and all but you know it’s kind of cute and maybe we’ll get some free food out of it!”

Ya, you did good Jester.” Caleb found himself fidgeting with the edge of the tablecloth. He couldn’t allow himself to be distracted by fanciful thoughts of his friend, not tonight. A swallow managed to push down the lump in his throat and he felt increasingly grateful for the spell disguising his face.

A green-skinned humanoid dressed in black robes had made his way to Augustine’s table and was discussing in detail with the merchant. Caleb and Jester tried to keep an eye on the conversation without making it obvious, talking to each other and looking over the menu.

“What do you think they are talking about?”

“I do not know. Perhaps he has business with, uh, one of the chefs or something.”

“Oh no Caleb!” Jester’s menu flew up to her face to hide her expression but her wide eyes were clearly visible. “He pointed at our table! Did he recognize us?”

“Stay calm Jester, he might have been pointing at something just past us. If we do anything now we will give ourselves away without a doubt.” Caleb managed to keep his voice calm in an effort to reassure Jester but his stomach felt as if he had just swallowed an anchor. The tension eased for a moment as the server moved away from Augustine’s table and left their field of vision.

“Oh that wasn’t too bad… Maybe he just wanted to chat about how fantastic we look?”

“Ya, I am sure he was getting tailor recommendations from the server.” Caleb began muttering spell components under his breath in an effort to keep himself calm.

“Good evening, esteemed guests,” came a voice from the other side of the table. Both Jester and Caleb jumped in their seats as their heads whipped away from Augustine’s table to take stock of who had managed to sneak up on them. Somehow the waiter from the other table had gone from the door to their table in a matter of seconds.

“I hope the two of you are having a wonderful time, my name is Xandor and I will be your host for the evening.” As he spoke he set down a plate of gorgeously dressed oysters and began to open an expensive-looking bottle of wine.

“Ah, we have not ordered yet, perhaps you have mistaken us for another table ya?”

A dignified laugh came from Xandor’s throat. “Oh of course not. These are compliments of your friends across the way.” As he spoke he gestured to Augustine’s table. Augustine himself gave an acknowledging wave while his partner giggled and winked. Jester enthusiastically waved back at the two before catching herself. “They heard about your engagement and wanted to congratulate you.”

“Well, that is certainly a pleasant surprise. Please thank the couple for us and we will greatly enjoy.”

“My pleasure. Do you need more time to look over the menu?”

“Yes pleeaaasssee!” Jester gave Xandor a wide smile and pulled her menu up to her face. The host nodded at the two of them and walked off.

“Well this certainly got more complicated than we bargained for,” Caleb found himself pulling at a loose thread on the edge of the tablecloth. “Perhaps we won’t have to worry about them now that they have given us a gift.”

“I seriously doubt that’s the case Caleb,” Jester said, her eyes pointing to her left. As she said this Caleb felt a strong hand rest on his shoulder. He watched as panic briefly flickered across Jester’s eyes before her face settled into fake politeness.

“Congratulations on the engagement,” said a deep voice coming from behind Caleb. Turning his head slightly, Caleb saw Augustine towering above him. The orc was strikingly tall, especially in comparison to his guest.

“You two are just so cute!” The air genasi woman moved around Augustine to get close to Jester. “Sooo, where’s the ring?”

“Ooohh, uhh we actually had to get it resized so I don’t have it on me right now…” Jester gave the woman a big grin. “But it’s really pretty and it has a big sapphire surrounded by diamonds, trust me you would really love it!”

“Thank you for the wine, it was very generous of you to do that,” Caleb said, extending his hand to the merchant. Augustine’s grip was extremely firm and Caleb had to steel himself so as not to show how much it hurt his hand.

“It was my pleasure. You kids enjoy the rest of the evening and have a good honeymoon.”

“Ah yes, we will be going to Hupperdook.” Caleb winced internally as he said it, noticing the strange look that glanced across the genasi’s face. Regardless the couple made their way back to their table seemingly without a suspicion.

“Really, Caleb? Hupperdook?” Jester said, arching her brow at the man across from her.

“Sorry, I was just talking about it with Nott so it was on my mind…”

“Ooh he’s going to the kitchen!” Jester interrupted. Caleb carefully turned his head to see Augustine heading back into the kitchen with a leather bag in tow while his partner made her way towards the front door.

“He is going to be making the drop, we should follow him.” Caleb immediately stood up and began to walk towards the kitchen door, feeling Jester follow. The distance to the kitchen was small and the door was open, allowing them to watch as Augustine approached one of the cooks. The orc embraced the tall red tiefling and began talking animatedly about the dish in front of them.

“Maybe he really is just saying hello to cook?” Jester asked, her voice a whisper. The two of them weren’t exactly trying to hide but had naturally pressed themselves into the corner. Caleb was incredibly aware of how close Jester was to him, her hair tickling his chin. He was forcing himself to breath, to stay calm amidst the stakes of the mission and his proximity to the woman he-

“Oh no, he’s coming this way!” Jester whispered frantically. Augustine was indeed making his way out of the kitchen, towards right where the two of them were standing. Caleb couldn’t tell if he had seen them yet but there’s wasn’t enough time to move away from the door without him noticing.

Adrenaline pumping through his veins, Caleb knew he had to do something to get them out of this situation. His hands grabbed Jester’s waist and spun her around to face him before bringing her face up to his. He felt her body tense at first, but as their lips met he felt her pause before beginning to kiss him back. As Jester’s arms wrapped around his shoulders, Caleb felt his hands wandering up to her back, pulling her even closer to him. Her lips tasted sweet, the remnants of an earlier pastry lingering and he found himself kissing her harder, deeper….

The sound of Augustine clearing his throat pulled Caleb back to the present, wrenching him away from Jester with a deep breath. “Oh, hello, sorry to be in your way, we were just, uh, looking for a place, to uh…”

“Boink!” Jester yelled excitedly, fondly resting her hand on Caleb’s chest. Caleb was grateful to Jester for stopping his rambling but even more glad the disguise spell covered up what was sure to be a bright red face at his companion’s choice of words.

“Don’t worry, I understand. Young lovers. You two have a good night.” With nothing more than a smile, Augustine slipped past the two of them and made his way through the restaurant. He was still holding the leather bag which appeared to be full.

As soon as the merchant was a good distance from the kitchen Caleb abruptly pulled away from Jester. “Good job Jester.” He began to fidget with the wire he used to send messages back and forth to Nott.

“Good job Caleb,” Jester responded, straightening her dress. He could tell something about her demeanor had changed but through the disguise it was hard to tell exactly how she was feeling about the situation.

“It seems the cook was not the buyer then. But now we are back at square one.”

“Come on, let’s get back to the carriage.”  
***  
Jester had transported the two of them back into the carriage, with Caleb messaging Nott to warn her of their sudden appearance. Fjord had eyes on Augustine from the minute he exited the restaurant and once Caleb and Jester were securely inside he had begun to follow the merchant from a safe distance.

Nott had emerged from the blanket on the floor and was now sitting directly across from Jester and Caleb, who had made sure to leave a healthy amount of room in the middle of the bench. “So, how did it go?”

“Fine,” Jester said at the same time Caleb said “Good.” The silence that followed was incredibly tense and Nott’s eyes darted back and forth between the two people in front of her, sensing that something was different.

“All right! Spit it out!! What happened in there?” Nott unleashed her best mom glare and crossed her arms, waiting for an answer.

“We kissed,” Caleb said, pointedly not looking at Jester. He could feel the tension and his mind began to race with the possibility he had ruined their friendship at the cost of a small move. No matter how much he might have wanted to kiss Jester, he would never have done it if he had known it would ruin how Jester viewed him. Even now the silence was crushing his chest, the weight of every breath making it hard to concentrate.

“You KISSED?” Nott screeched. Caleb could feel the carriage lurch as Fjord reacted to the sudden exclamation coming from behind him. Nott’s yellow eyes grew wide as she jumped off of the bench and into a standing position. “That’s amazing! How was it?” She latched on to Jester’s arm and glanced excitedly between the two of them.

“It was just a cover, Nott.”

Jester gave a half-hearted smile as she looked at the little goblin girl. “Yeah you know just a friendly kiss between two party members to keep from blowing our cover, it’s not a big deal Nott.”

“Hmm, all right well if you want to believe that then go ahead but IIII know better.” She hopped back onto the bench and narrowed her eyes at the two of them, barely hiding a smirk.

“Nott, we should focus on the mission first. You should come with us Nott in case we need help” Caleb poked his head just out through the window to see the carriage they were following slow down before pulling off to a set of shops on the right. Taking out his wire, he muttered to Fjord “Go down the street a little while longer and you can drop us off.”

“Yessir,” came the reply from outside the carriage. Caleb made sure to adjust the curtains and crouch down as they passed the merchant’s chariot.

“Caleb, we should change our disguises in case Augustine catches a glimpse of us.” Before Jester was even done speaking, she had transformed herself into a drow women wearing plain red robes. Following her lead, Caleb adjusted the look of his drow persona, shortening the hair, softening the cheekbones and changing the clothes to a more pedestrian style than what he wore to the restaurant.

The carriage finally slowed to a stop and Fjord knocked twice to indicate they should get out. “You two got this!” Nott gave Caleb and Jester a thumbs up as they stepped down into the quiet streets of the city. It was late and many of the shops had closed, but a number of people were roaming around still. The majority of people were singular, shady, trying to get in and out without being noticed, and Caleb and Jester made their best effort to blend in as they walked down to the spice shop they had seen Augustine walk into.

Nott had waited a few minutes before exiting the carriage and crossing the street. She was matching their pace along the shops opposite the road, wire in hand in case she needed to message one of them. Caleb kept an eye on her, checking occasionally across the street.

“Hey Caleb?”

“Ya, Jester?” He didn’t like how soft and nervous Jester’s voice sounded but now wasn’t the time to discuss it.

“We’re cool right? After the thing in the restaurant.”

“Oh. Ya, we are cool.” Caleb forced himself to swallow the lump that was building in his throat. They were getting close to the spice shop now and while Augustine wasn’t in sight the drop off would probably be happening sometime soon.

Jester stopped at the shop next to where their target was and mimed pointing at the carvings in the window. Caleb mimed along, using his peripheral vision to monitor the door.

A good five minutes passed, at which point Caleb was beginning to run out of ways to be excited about the same wooden carving of a duck. He was about to suggest to Jester that they move to keep from arousing suspicion when Augustine finally emerged from the store, bag in hand. The merchant glanced around and gently placed the bag on small bench next to the shop before walking back east towards town.

Caleb pretended to stroke his chin so he could message Nott. “He has left the bag on the bench, can you retrieve it?”

“I don’t think I can get to it without alerting that tiefling,” Nott responded. Even as she spoke, a red tiefling in black robes seemed to be slowly making her way over to the bench, attempting to be as inconspicuous as possible.

“If we cause a distraction, do you think you could grab it?”

“It’s worth a shot at least.”

“Jester, we need a distraction as we pass this woman.” Caleb grabbed Jester’s hand and began to pull her towards the bench.

“What? What do you mean?” Jester’s voice was a panicked whisper.

“Nott’s going to grab the bag but we need to think of something to distract her.” Her hand tensed up inside his and he was hoping, praying to Jester and to the Traveler that she could save them, like she always did, because she was competent and wonderful and-

“Well, this is happening,” he heard from beside him, and before he knew it she had grabbed his robes and pulled his face down to hers. She captured his lips with her, and for the second time in one night Caleb felt his mind go numb from pure adrenaline he received from kissing the woman he was so desperately in love with. Without a second of hesitation he began to kiss her back, his hands latching onto her waist, pulling her closer…

“Excuse you,” a stern voice came from behind Caleb as his back slammed into the tiefling. She was clearly upset, her solid black eyes shooting icy daggers at the two of them. “Watch where you are going.”

“Oh I’m so sorry!” Jester giggled and smiled at the tall woman. Caleb glanced over and saw that Nott had grabbed the bag and was already halfway across the street with it, so he gently elbowed Jester. “We’ll get right of your way. Also you’re very beautiful! Goodbye!”

With that the two of them began to walk at a brisk pace back down to where their carriage was parked. Once they got a decent distance between the spice shop, they broke into a run. Nott threw the carriage door open for them, and as soon as Caleb had climbed in the horses took off.

“Good job, Detective Caleb,” Jester said breathlessly, not looking at him as she collapsed into her seat. Nott was across from them, peeking into the bag she had managed to get away with.

“Good job, Detective Jester.”  
***  
Caleb entered the kitchen of the Xorhouse as quietly as possible. Frumpkin let out a “mrrp” as he hopped off of Caleb’s shoulder and onto the counter. He absentmindedly pet the familiar, exhausted from the ordeal of the day and overthinking every little encounter with Jester. Immediately after the Mighty Nein had dropped off the magic item, Jester and Caleb had immediately gone into their rooms. Nott had tried to get inside and talk to him but he refused to open the door, choosing instead to wallow in silence. After a few hours, Nott had left and Caleb heard the last few voices quit echoing inside the house, meaning it was safe to come out.

Caduceus liked to keep the kitchen well-stocked with food so he would have plenty of items on hand to cook with, but with the last few missions it had been a while since Caduceus and Nott could make it to the market. After some searching through cabinets, he managed to find a small jar of honey and a biscuit that didn’t appear to be too stale. He broke off a small piece of bread for Frumpkin and had begun to slather honey on the biscuit when he heard the soft sound of footsteps behind him.

“Oh, sorry Caleb. I thought everyone was asleep,” Jester said, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

“Nein, it is okay Jester. You are not disturbing me.” He moved away from the icebox, knowing she would be getting a glass of milk before bed. She hesitantly tiptoed up next to him and pulled the jar of milk out before reaching into the cabinet below and pulling out one of the tankards the group kept on hand.

“Are you doing okay Caleb?” she asked, replacing the milk inside the icebox. He could hear the concern in her voice but felt a pang in his chest as he noticed she was refusing to meet his eyes.

“I am as well as I can be. And you?” 

“Of course I’m all right. We just pulled off a really cool heist mission!”

Caleb liked (he still refused to even allow himself to think about the word love, how could he when the last people he truly loved met such a fate) Jester for so many reasons, and one of them was the constant positive attitude that she kept, especially when the rest of the Nein were around. But with the familiarity also came the realization that so often the positivity was a front, a cover for issues lurking deeper. The party counted on her so much as an emotional crutch and she had taken that role on diligently, but that made her feel at times like she had to hide her true feelings from the group. Caleb wanted so desperately to sit her down and let her talk, let her cry all her emotions out and comfort her, but he was hardly the master of opening up about his trauma himself.

“Ya, we did a very good job tonight. You should be proud of yourself.” Caleb shoved the last of his biscuit inside of his mouth. As he chewed, he watched Jester stand still, holding her glass of milk, staring contemplatively into the liquid. It was quiet in the kitchen save for the soft sound of Frumpkin cleaning himself.

“Hey Caleb?” 

“Ya?”  
“Are we okay? You know, after the whole, thing, in the restaurant, and in front of the shop?” She sat her glass down on the counter and leaned against the ice box. Finally, her eyes lifted up to meet Caleb’s and he could see the depths of worry that were just below the surface.

“Of course, Jester. We are okay.”

“Okay good because I didn’t want things to be weird between us since we kissed, I mean I know I joke about you being secretly in love with me but I really do like you Caleb and I don’t want to lose you and if anything happened I would be really really sad and….” Here Jester stopped and looked at the ground, shielding her eyes from Caleb.

“What is the matter, Jester?” He instinctively moved closer to Jester, resting a hand cautiously on her arm. She shook her head, her right hand moving up to her mouth to cover a sob. A tear fell from under the curtain of her hair and Caleb felt sorrow, anger and fear well up in his chest. “It is all right Jester, everything is okay…” Slowly, carefully he began to pull her in towards him.

After a tense moment when he wasn’t sure if she would accept or pull away, Jester threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her tear-soaked face into his neck. Her sobbing was audible now and Caleb rested one hand on the back of her head in an attempt to comfort her.

“I’m so sorry, Caleb….”

“What is there to be sorry about, Blueberry?” Seeing Jester in so much distress was tearing at him, but he forced himself to swallow the lump in his throat. “You have done nothing wrong.”

“Caleb, I… I love you…” 

The words were like a slap in Caleb’s face. This confession, whispered into his neck softly, by the woman he… loved in return was so much to take in. It shocked him to his core, leaving him silent and unmoving.

“I’m sorry Caleb, I know you don’t love me back and I don’t want this to ruin our friendship, but I just couldn’t hold it in anymore. Please don’t be mad at me Caleb, I-”

Pulling away from her, Caleb removed his hand from her head, lifting her chin upwards. For the first time in years he was incredibly, inevitably sure of what he was doing. He felt her soft breath on his face, tickling the small beard hairs that were beginning to show themselves once again. Slowly but firmly he captured her lips with his, using his thumb to stroke her jaw. Hot tears landed on his hand and for a moment Jester hesitated, but after a second she had a vice like grip on his coat. Caleb was no longer in control; she was pulling him into her orbit like a comet into a star and he was ready and willing to burn up in her atmosphere if she wanted him this close.

He felt his lips being parted and her tongue made its way inside, playing with his own. Her hand had found its way into his hair, locking the ginger curls tight to make sure he wasn’t going anywhere. Caleb felt her other hand tighten its grip on his clothes and let out a moan at the thought of how needy Jester seemed to be.

The kisses before had seemed so enormous before, but compared to what they were doing now, telling each other how much they loved and needed the other with their hands and lips, the earlier kisses were nothing.

A soft meow from the counter finally pulled them apart, each of them gasping for air. Caleb, eyes closed, pressed his forehead against Jester’s and took her hands in his own. He let the moment exist, enjoying her presence and reveling in the knowledge that she loved him just as much as he loved her.

“I love you too, Jester Lavorre.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for making it through all that! Hopefully the rest of the week won't be this long. I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out though so I suppose there's something to that. Big shoutout again to 3fling.tumblr.com for the help.


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